Stencils as Garden Art

August 7, 2013

...ers alerted me to the far more impressive stencils of San Francisco street artist Jeremy Novy: Photo by Dawn Endico. Green Roof Grower Bruce was inspired by Novy’s work to make his own koi stencils on the sidewalk in front of his house. Now if enough of us adorn these edge spaces (in a neighborly fashion, of course) perhaps we’ll be able to reclaim our streets from the distant bureaucrats who hassle us over our parkway gardens. It’s precisely the...

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Food Storage as Art

Mr. Homegrown

January 7, 2013

Design, Food, Food Preservation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mG9xYVyAnuc Artist Jihyun Ryou’s work uses food storage techniques from the pre-refrigerator era in a way that’s both useful and beautiful. Her goal is to, “Try to bring your food in front of your eyes” to counteract that tendency we all have to make our refrigerators unintentional composters. The techniques she demonstrates include: Evaporation Sand, both to keep vegetables vertical and to d...

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The Fine Art of Worm Grunting

Mr. Homegrown

October 15, 2012

Vermiculture

8 Comments

...panicked worms crawl to the surface of the soil. (The high population of earthworms in the area profiled, upwards of 1 million per acre, makes grunting a sustainable practice.) In England, grunting is called “worm charming”. And yes, there are competitions–in Sopchoppy, Florida, Shelburne, Ontario, and South Devon, England. Kelly adds: Attn: geeks! After viewing, shall we discuss whether Dune author Frank Herbert knew about grunting…er…thumping?...

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Hollywood always gets gardens wrong (I’m talking to you, Maze Runner)

Mrs. Homegrown

September 25, 2014

Thoughtstylings

19 Comments

.... They look like thrift store paintings, or the work left forgotten in the art department hallways after the school term has ended. Ghastly. The statues are always hyper-realistic, created perhaps by casting someone’s face, or modeling them in CG. The result is dang creepy, and not at all historically accurate. As far as sketching goes, drawing styles change over time. It’s really interesting, actually, the evolution of line. I can identify the ro...

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May Morris: Embroidery as Art

Mr. Homegrown

February 21, 2018

Design

8 Comments

...s probably the best embroiderer the world has ever known. Her work is more like painting than stitching and she raised the craft to levels not seen since the late medieval period. May was a gifted designer and artist and worked in many mediums including fashion and jewelry. You can read her embroidery manual Decorative Needlework online. Are Root Simple readers also avid embroiderers? Leave a comment!...

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